Friday, December 22, 2017

We Made It Through Poetry!

First off, congratulations to Natalie (2) and Kenzie (5) for having the highest average of student reviews for their Lear Diaries. You put in a lot of time, effort, and character relativity to create memorable, engaging, and Lear-related diaries.

At this point, you have turned in your last 2 assignments for the semester: the Psycho Lear essay and the final. I will be evaluating these assignments over break and adding to the grades to SIS during that time. We will be using these assignments to commence second semester and review all those skills you have accumulated - including all that poetry knowledge that you never knew you needed.

Over break, take a read of The Cherry Orchard and complete a book card for this play for the second day we return to school. Often, this play is categorized as a comedy, which we will have a debate - maybe not in the Team Goneril and Team Regan style.

I hope that all of you have an amazing holiday break filled with relaxation, family and friend connections, delicious food, and reading time! You are entering 2018, which is such a significant year in your academic and personal lives. Make sure to enjoy the turning of the clock to midnight, make resolutions that you will keep (if you believe in those), and savor every moment as you move closer to the collegiate world!

And, for those of you who would like to dabble in advertising...

As many of you may recall from last year, I visit classrooms in January to help pique interest in AP Lit and let students know all the options available to them junior and senior year. (Yes, I will be out of the room during that time, but you know you will have something to keep you busy.)

Another way to call attention to AP Lit is to create a poster that grabs the eye and provides key words that would attract a student to the course. And in the past years, our department chair has blown up this poster into a mega-poster that is on the English department bulletin board second semester.

With that in mind, I have a proposal, not a modest one, for my AP Lit students.

If you would like to make a poster for AP Lit, and perhaps earn 10-20 extra credit points (dependent on effort), create one advertisement and share/e-mail it to me by 7:00 a.m. on January 3. This will need to be in digital format.

You will find below some facts about the course that you may want to include; however, you can also bring in stuff you have learned or liked this semester to encourage a student to take the course. Remember, this is an advertisement and prospective students walking down the hall will not stop to read full sentence explanations. The winning poster will be selected by another teacher or staff member and will receive an additional 10 extra credit points. The extra credit is for second semester and not for first semester.

AP Lit Facts:

·         Seniors only
·         Full year course with an objective to pass the AP Literature and Composition exam in May
·         College credit earned through test scores and/or dual credit enrollment
·         Curriculum focuses on components of the AP Literature and Composition Exam: multiple choice, poetry analysis, prose and analysis, and free response analysis
·         Close reading strategies and critical theory analyses of texts including feminist, historicist, psychoanalytic, Marxist, and structuralist
·         Fiction emphasis: poetry, short stories, plays, novels, etc.
·         AP prompt writing skills to foster mature writing style and analysis
·         Writings will consist of literary analyses with additional research and intense study required
·         Full length texts will include novels and plays throughout the course of the school year
No summer reading

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